(a) In each county there shall be one magistrate assistant for
each magistrate. Each magistrate assistant shall be appointed by
the magistrate under whose authority and supervision and at whose
will and pleasure he or she shall serve. The assistant shall not
be a member of the immediate family of any magistrate and shall not
have been convicted of a felony or any misdemeanor involving moral
turpitude and shall reside in the State of West Virginia. For the
purpose of this section, "immediate family" means the relationships
of mother, father, sister, brother, child or spouse.

(b) A magistrate assistant shall have the duties, clerical or
otherwise, assigned by the magistrate and prescribed by the rules
of the Supreme Court of Appeals or the judge of the circuit court
or the chief judge of the circuit court if there is more than one
judge of the circuit court. In addition to these duties,
magistrate assistants shall perform and are accountable to the
magistrate court clerks with respect to the following duties:

(1) The preparation of summons in civil actions;

(2) The assignment of civil actions to the various
magistrates;

(3) The collection of all costs, fees, fines, forfeitures and
penalties which are payable to the court;

(4) The submission of moneys, along with an accounting of the
moneys, to appropriate authorities as provided by law;

(5) The daily disposition of closed files which are to be located in the magistrate clerk's office;

(6) All duties related to the gathering of information and
documents necessary for the preparation of administrative reports
and documents required by the rules of the Supreme Court of Appeals
or the judge of the circuit court or the chief judge of the circuit
court if there is more than one judge of the circuit court;

(7) All duties relating to the notification, certification and
payment of jurors serving pursuant to the terms of this chapter;
and

(8) All other duties or responsibilities whereby the
magistrate assistant is accountable to the magistrate court clerk
as determined by the magistrate.

(c) Magistrate assistants shall be paid a monthly salary by
the state. Magistrate assistants serving magistrates who serve
less than seven thousand three hundred in population shall be paid
up to $36,048 per year and magistrate assistants serving
magistrates who serve seven thousand three hundred or more in
population shall be paid up to $39,348 per year: Provided,That
after the effective date of this section, any general salary
increase granted to all state employees, whose salaries are not set
by statute, expressed as a percentage increase or an
across-the-board increase, may also be granted to magistrate
assistants. For the purpose of determining the population served
by each magistrate, the number of magistrates authorized for each
county shall be divided into the population of each county. The salary of the magistrate assistant shall be established by the
magistrate within the limits set forth in this section.

(d) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, the amendments made to this section during the 2013 First
Extraordinary Session are effective upon passage and are
retroactive to January 1, 2013.

(e) Beginning January 1, 2017, the annual salary of all
magistrate assistants is $39,348. After the effective date of this
section, a general salary increase granted to state employees,
whose salaries are not set by statute, expressed as a percentage
increase or an across-the-board increase, may also be granted to
magistrate assistants.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2015 Regular Session
The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.